What Parents Teachers and Care Providers Need to Know About Day Care in Chicago and Surrounding Areas

 

Mom Trusted knows how competitive and tough to afford day care in Chicago can be. That’s why we believe in informing parents, teachers and care providers to give them the most insight into the child care industry. Here’s what parents, teachers and care providers need to know about day care in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs:

 

How much it costs

Day care in Chicago and Illinois lands smack in the middle when comparing costs to those throughout the rest of the country. The average cost of an infant attending fulltime care in Illinois comes in at just over $12,000 per year. The rest of the country pays anywhere between $4,500 and $20,000 each year. For four-year-olds, Illinois pays just under $9,000 while the rest of America could pay anywhere between $4,000 and $15,500. For day care in Chicago and its surrounding areas before and after school, Illinois residents tend to hand over about $5,700, while averages in the country land anywhere between $2,000 and $11,000.

 

How much child care workers make in Illinois

In 2012, the average income of child care workers in Illinois came in at about $22,000 per year. That’s slightly about the national average, which is closer to $21,000. Care workers in Illinois do make up a large chunk of child care employees in the U.S. Illinois makes up nearly 19,000 of the 630,000 in the country.

 

The types of care requested

The most popular type of care for children in Illinois is for infant and toddler care, which makes up 44 percent of the total. In the U.S. 51 percent of children in child care are infants and toddlers.

 

Sources:

-Child Care in America 2012 State Fact Sheet, Child Care Aware: http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2012/full2012cca_state_factsheetbook.pdf

-Kids Data, Child Care: http://www.kidsdata.org/data/topic/dashboard.aspx?cat=19

-Illinois Action for Children Facts: http://www.actforchildren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MDP_FactsInfo

-Illinois Department of Children and Family Services: http://www.state.il.us/dcfs/index.shtml

-Photo courtesy of torres21 on flicker.com